Dot org
by Tsuyoku
Summary: Is it possible to befriend a robot? Is it possible to depend on a robot? It is possible to fall in love with an online robot? Kagome did. Inu.Kag PG13 R&R!
1. Hardware

Disclaimer: I do not own Inu Yasha or any of his rights. I am not gaining anything off of this. I'm just writing this as a devoted fan. I also do not own anything pertaining to any search robots online including Smarterchild.

Summary: Is it possible to befriend a robot? Is it possible to depend on a robot? It is possible to fall in love with an online robot? Kagome did. Inu.Kag PG-13 R&R!

Tsuyoku: I love this idea for this fic. It literally hit me in the head...

Dot org

Chapter one.

"What do you mean I'm fired!" Kagome fumed at her boss. How dare he do this to her after the three years she'd spent getting his coffee. 'Why that fat, balding, egotistical, lazy son of a bitch!' Kagome fumed again.

"I'm not getting any work from you, Miss Higarashi. Your portfolio has been empty for the past few months." Kagome could see something in her boss' teeth. She tried to ignore it, but every time he opened his mouth she'd see the disgusting green thing laughing at her. Kagome was just waiting for it to spit out at her; that thing just as vile as his words.

"That's because Ms. Kanna (putting emphasis on that name) has been stealing the portfolios off of my desk every morning. They're the only thing that she can get her greasy hangs on!" Kagome retorted.

"How dare you accuse Kanna of stealing. Just because she does her work and you don't doesn't mean that she should get the blame!" The boss' face became red.

'Yeah, only because you're having an affair with her, dick head. Get over yourself.' Kagome thought. 'What am I doing thinking this. I'm about to get fired, why not...?'

Kagome trekked out of his office into the busy cubicle city seeing so many of his employees trying to work. "Hey everybody! I'm getting fired!" Kagome had attracted a few heads by now. "So, I thought I'd let out a few secrets. Ms. Kanna and the Boss Man have been going at it on the copy machine every night since she got 'promoted'." Heads turned to look at Kanna, whose face, usually white, was now blood red. "Oh yeah. I've seen him getting his butt xeroxed a few times too." Kagome looked to the copy machine and saw a few walking away in disgust. "Kanna, I know you've been stealing all my portfolios every morning. In fact, I like the last one you submitted to the board. You didn't even look at it did you?" Kagome held a few xeroxed pictures of Kanna and the boss 'entangled' on the copy machine. "I've got plenty more!" Kagome threw the papers all around the office as the walked towards the elevator.

She was satisfied now.

It wasn't until the got to the ground floor and out the building that she realized she had no job. Well, she'd go home first and make a few calls. Maybe she could get a job somewhere; after all, she did have a fine degree in fashion. Who wouldn't want her?

"What!" Kagome exclaimed for the millionth time today. "Wait, I don't think I heard that right. What did you say?" Kagome was talking to her friend Sango on the phone.

"He's been calling people all day. The Boss has made it clear that no other agencies here in Tokyo will even think of hiring you." She paused apathetically. "He's got connections you know."

"But that can't be legal." Kagome tried.

"No, but you won't work anywhere. Too many people have respect for Boss. I mean, after your show today at the office, I don't blame him for being mad, or you for that matter. But if you'd left quietly, then many this wouldn't have happened."

But." Kagome started. "How am I going to find a job?"

"Well, you could get a small job working somewhere local until you can sort this whole thing out." Sango could remedy anything. "That would be my best guess."

"Like where?"

"Well, I started working here because I found the job online." Kagome pttfed. "Look, I know you don't like the idea of job searching online, Kagome, but this robot online helped me. Look, just go to your messenger on your computer and type in 'InuYasha' in the box."

"Huh?"

Look, just do it okay? Not to mention he's kind of fun to talk to. You should strike up a conversation with him sometime. Well, I've got to go. The Boss could fire me to for talking to you." Sango sighed.

"I'll bet he's looming over your shoulder right now..."Kagome teased.

"Oh, Kagome, don't do that! Well, I'll talk to you later. Take my advice and use the robot! Bye."

"Bye." Click. Kagome took a scan around her room for a moment. She might as well be spending a lot of time her in her room. It did seem a bit trashy. She really should clean it, but she didn't feel like it today... Or tomorrow. Kagome turned around to face her computer. "I shouldn't. It does seem kind of like a stupid idea..." Kagome grabbed her messenger bag and a pack of cigarettes and left the apartment. She pulled her long coat around her figure as soon as she stepped over the threshold of the apt. building. The cool air still nipped at her unguarded shins, but Kagome walked fast, hoping to catch the bus.

The bus was stuffy, full of people coming home from work, and the air smelled of a sickness that she couldn't describe. But it was warm. Oh boy, it felt good. Around Tokyo this time of year, the cold was chilling to the bone, and that meant that there were tons of bakeries beginning to sell warm treats! But there was one café in particular that she thought she'd check out.

"Hi mom!" Kagome said as she walked up the last few steps. A lot of people were sitting in the tables set out; it seemed like they were busy. "Finally got the word around, huh?" Her grandafather had thought of a way that would bring more people to the shrine. And with this time of year, it was working well.

"Yes, well, your grandfather is finally putting his culinary skills to work. But look at you, it's nice to see you again! Didn't I just talk to you on the phone last night? What's the occasion?" She teased. Kagome had a habit of not seeing her family for weeks on end. Mostly it was work to blame, but now that she got... well, she could spend time with them a bit more than usual from now on.

"There's no occasion, Mom. Where's Sota anyways?" Kagome expected that he was in the house playing video games or something.

"Oh, he's in his room playing on the computer thing. I told him that he could since he helped us out this afternoon with a rush. He can cook so well, you know?" Kagome's mom lit up like a candle. You could tell that she was proud of her children.

"Well, I'm going to go up and see hi, okay? Be right back."

Kagome entered the warm house. Oh how she missed it here. Climbing the stairs, she entered Sota's room to see that he _was _playing on the computer. Sota was such a genius with computers. He was going to get a nice job one day. Kagome was just a little bit jealous of his talent.

"Hi, Sota. Long time no see!" She said. He turned to her.

"Hey, sis. How are things?" When he was younger, he'd run up to her and hug her if he hadn't seen her in this long. She kinda missed that.

"So, what are you working on?" Kagome could understand the basic gist of a computer, but no near the inner workings of one like her younger bro.

"Well, I'm just chatting online right now. Hey, have you heard of this new robot called Inuyasha? I love it. I've been talking to him for a while. Not to mention that he is great for searching the web!"

"What a coincidence! A friend just recommended him to me today. Is it _really_ that cool? I didn't know if I should try it or not." Kagome bit her lip a bit. She had a habit of doing that now.

"Well, you should. _He_ is interesting to talk to. It's like you're just talking to another human being. Here. Watch."

**BadMan12: _Hi InuYasha!_**

**Inuyasha: _Hello Sota!_**

"Hey! He knows your name!" Kagome said. "That's so cool!"

"Yeah, I taught it to him. Now if I IM him, he just calls me by my first name.

**BadMan12: _So, how are you today?_**

**Inuyasha: _I'm good! How are you?_**

**BadMan12: _I'm great! So, how many people are you talking to right now?_**

**Inuyasha: _I'm talking to 3,115 people right now._**

"You see", Sota started. "With this, I can talk to him. Leave messages to other members, search the web, play games, even send other people online your crushes."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It seems that a lot of people are jumping on the bandwagon with this robot. He's a hit for lonely people on a Friday night." Sota began typing again. Kagome hoped that he wasn't hinting at her love-life, or lack there of.

**BadMan12: _Let's play Hangman!_**

**Inuyasha: _Sure! Just type hint if needed. Type a letter to guess. Or solve the puzzle all at once!_**

__

**BadMan12: _Hint._**

**Inuyasha: _Hints used 1 out of 3._**

_**. . ' s . . . . . . .**_

**BadMan12: _I_**

**Inuyasha:_ I . ' s . . . . . . . _**

**BadMan12: _t_**

**Inuyasha:_ It's . . . . . . t ._**

**BadMan12: _e_**

**Inuyasha: _Wrong letters: e_**

_**+--------+**_

_**l I**_

_**I**_

_**I**_

_**+------+**_

_**It's . . . . . t .**_

**BadMan12: _y_**

**Inuyasha: It's . y . . . ty**

"I know it!" Kagome exclaimed. "It's 'It's my party!"

"Good job Kagome, you figure that out all by yourself?" Sota loved to be sarcastic.

**BadMan12: _It's my party._**

**Inuyasha: _Good job! You're the 13th person to ever solve this puzzle!_**

_**Type 'again' to start a new game.**_

"Wow. Maybe I will try this!" Kagome said, looking at here watch. "Well, I have to go now if I want to make it home at a good hour. Bye, Sota. See you!" Kagome gave him a hug and a kiss and walked out the door to say good nightl to her mother and grandfather.

So, Kagome was riding home on the bus again. This time with a bag of bean pastries in hand. 'Mom, Grandpa. You guys always care so much!' Kagome lit up inside. Of course, she knew her mom was just begging for some grandchildren soon. And maybe Grandpa wouldn't be around too much longer, but Kagome didn't know the first thing about dating...

She stepped off of the warm bus once again into the even more chilly night air. Despite the temperature, it was very crisp outside. The fresh air type of crisp. Kagome finally ended up getting into her apartment after a rustling of keys, and headed to the balcony for a much needed smoke.

"Boy, I need to get a boyfriend..." Kagome said as she took a bite out of a bean pastry. She took a few puffs of her cigarette thereafter and decided that even though it was a very bad habit, she'd just be lazy and keep doing it. Taking a brief look into her room, she glanced at the computer. Then back at the city. Then again at the computer. Fine.

Putting her cigarete out with her shoe, she got up and went back inside, reveling in the warmth of the heater. Hitting the power button on the computer, she watched the screen go from a black, dark reflection of herself, to an inviting blue welcome screen. Kagome typed in her password and then entered the cyber world.

Not to much action or anything going on. An intro chappy if I have to call it anything. Well, stay tuned. More to come. THX -Tsuyoku-


	2. Search Results

Disclaimer: I do not own Inu Yasha or any of his rights. I am not gaining anything off of this. I'm just writing this as a devoted fan. I also do not own anything pertaining to any search robots online including Smarterchild.

Summary: Is it possible to befriend a robot? Is it possible to depend on a robot? It is possible to fall in love with an online robot? Kagome did. Inu.Kag PG-13 R&R!

Tsuyoku: I love this idea for this fic. It literally hit me in the head... (long story...)

Dot org

Chapter Two.

_(Review)_

_Putting her cigarete out with her shoe, she got up and went back inside, reveling in the warmth of the heater. Hitting the power button on the computer, she watched the screen go from a black, dark reflection of herself, to an inviting blue welcome screen. Kagome typed in her password and then entered the cyber world._

_(Review)_

"Welcome back, Kagome." Her computer greeted her. She moved her mouse over to the interenet icon and double clicked. First thing, she'd check her email, for kicks. Not like anyone emailed her anyway. Those who wanted to talk to her called her, and she really didn't have any long distant friends. But you never knew what kinds of things ended up in your mail box... coupons, spam, offers for free shirts. It was endless. Plus employers seemed to think it wise to have an email, though she didn't think that 'BuyoBabe appealed to them as a screen name of a muture adult...

"Oh well." She browsed over her three emails that ended up in her inbox. One was this weekly newsletter that an old boyfriend had gotten her that she just couldn't get rid of. Another one was an update in a fanfiction that she'd been reading (hey, it's like reading novels...). And the last was some email from someone she didn't know sending her invites to their 'my space'. "Delete, Delete, Delete... Good heavens, how did I get so much spam..." sigh "Okay, I'll just sign on." She clicked onto the little man icon and opened up her account. "Okay... Inuyasha, right?"

She typed it in and up came the usual noise that signified your IM to someone. Not like anyone ever wanted to hear the annoying thing anyways.

_**Buyoubabe: Hello?**_

_**Inuyasha: Hello, Buyobabe! How are you?**_

_**Buyobabe: I doing fine. How are you?**_

_**Inuyasha: Great thx.**_

"Interesting. It's like I'm talking to a real person..." Kagome kept typing, hoping to find a good conversation.

_**Buyobabe: So, how many people are you talking to right now?**_

_**Inuyasha: I'm chatting with 4,092 people right now! **_

_**Buyobabe: Wow! That's a lot of people! You must be popular!**_

_**Inuyasha: You say such interesting things, Buyobabe!**_

_**Buyobabe: Please, call me Kagome.**_

_**Inuyasha: Alright Kagome!**_

_**Buyobabe: Can you search local occupations?**_

_**Inuyasha: Yes, Kagome.**_

_**Search results:**_

**_1. Local jobs in your area!_**

**_2. Occupations near you_**

**_3. Search new jobs by city_**

**_4. Find your best job offers!_**

_**Next time you want to search the Web for this, just type "web local occupations."**_

"Cool." Kagome hovered her mouse over the first on the list. "Local jons in you area. I like the sound of that."

_**Buyobabe: Thank you, Inuyasha.**_

_**Inuyasha: You're welcome, Kagome.**_

"That's kind of nice. It is like talking to a real person." She moved over to her internet window and looked at the site. After typing in her country, city, and area code, the site did some searching for a few seconds and thengave her a list of replies to her inquire about the local jobs. "The G Marts around here seem to be begging for some cashiers. But I'm not eager to work in some weird gas station." She still scanned the list, keeping in mind what Sango had said about getting a transition job untill she could get this sorted out.

_**Buyobabe: Do you have emotions, Inuyasha?**_

_**Inuyasha: Not right now, no.**_

_**Buyobabe: Do you ever feel sad?**_

_**Inuyasha: I do feel sad, as a matter of fact.**_

_**Buyobabe: Are you happy?**_

_**Inuyasha: Well, are you?**_

_**Buyobabe: I'm happy. Are you?**_

_**Inuyasha: I'm not totally sure.**_

_**Buyobabe: Are you a robot?**_

_**Inuyasha: Well, in a way, we all are, aren't we?**_

Kagome laughed at this. He was a bit humorous, and kinda nice to talk to. "I mean, this is just like talking to a real person. 'Are you real?' " She typed.

_**Inuyasha: Of course I am.**_

_**Buyobabe: Do you ever read science fiction novels?**_

_**Inuyasha: What are those like?**_

_**Buyobabe: They are books that usually have robots in them.**_

_**Inuyasha: I'll look into that.**_

_**Buyobabe: lol**_

_**Inuyasha: What's so funny? ; )**_

_**Buyobabe: You are.**_

_**Inuyasha: So now I'm a comedian. What is this?**_

_**Buyobabe: Stand up comedy.**_

Kagome went on to talk a bit to Inuyasha. She always thought it was a bit interesting talking to a robot. Sometimes she had to ask things over and over just to get a simple answer, but in the long run, he was kind fof funny. Kagome went back to the list of local jobs that were offering and considered a few more jobs she'd over looked. "Well, here's one I'd take. Oh, well, there's another I'd like." Kagome pondered on whether applying for a cashier at one of the malls nice stores or going for a librarian's assistant, she called Sango.

"Hey, baby." Sango replied as soon as she picked up the phone.

"How'd you know it was me, Sango?" Kagome asked.

"You're not Ethan... I'm just kidding, Kagome. It's the caller ID, remember." Kagome walked over to her couch and sat on it staring at her computer. Pulling a pillow up to her chest, she asked the $90 question.

"Sango, what should I do? I mean, you said that you felt a transition job was a good idea, but I'm just finding a cashier at Micky's or a librarian's assistant. I like to read, but I'm not sure what to go with. And I'm still not sure how a transition job will help. It's not like any firms will think about me ever again after what the Boss said, according to you."

"Sigh Kagome, I think that you need something to get you mind of this whole losing your job deal. After all, out of all of our friends in high school, you were always the one who would work, work, work. And that continued on past graduation, past college. I'm just worried that you'll lose your mind if you have nothing to do. I'm not ever sure you can get anothier job like the one you had, but," Kagome could hear Sango getting onto her couch as well, "you've just got to do things from day to day now. I know you can do this." There was a noise in the background that Kagome was sure was the door opening. "Oh, Miroku's home. I've got to go, Kagome. But we'll get together sometime later and tlak about this. Meanwhile, I think you should look into the library job. After all, you like to read, and that's all you need for motivation."

Kagome got off the phone with Sango and then went into her kitchen unwraping a TV dinner. Poking the top with a fork, she closed teh dinner into her tiny microwave oven and then set out to her computer until she heard the annoying beep that sounded every time the cooking was done.

While stuffing hot chicken pieces into her mouth, she almost burned her own tounge when she was trying to type in an online reply to the local library. Maybe she would find some interesting books when she was working there.

Kagome opened the doors to the library and suddenly the smell of thousands of books filled her nose, and she was in heaven. Crossing over to the help desk, she inquired about the job and the report that she sent in. The helper at the desk looked up.

"Oh, you. Okay, yes. I remember now. Yes, you can have the job. No one really wants to work in a library these days, so you're the only one who applied for the job. I just need you to fill out a few forms, and then we can get you a schedule." The woman got up and was moving about through the filing carts behind her. While she was waiting, Kagome looked around the library to get a feel for the place. She couldn't fathom why she'd never gone to this library. It would have been a very good haven for her on those days when she just felt like strangling her boss. Now, she guessed, she wouldn't have to deal with that much anymore. But it wasn't until her eyes rested on the far wall, that Kagome noticed a familiar name. She had to do a double take, but when she did, Kagome saw a poster that had 'Inuyasha' written on it. It was obviously advertsing the usefulness of the new program.

'With schools these days and how the world depends on the internet, that is a really good resource to go to.' Kagome thought. Just then, the helper returned with a few papers and told Kagome that she was free for the rest of the day, but had to be back there tomorrow. Another worker just up and quit on them, so for the next week or two, Kagome would have to fill in their hours til her schedule could be fixed to her liking.

'Whatever.' Kagome thought. 'Atleast it's a job and I won't be bored. Not with all the books and the internet at my fingertips...' Kagome took the papers and walked out of the building to find something occupying for the rest of the afternoon.

This was kind of a filler chappy. Trust me, in the next chapter, it gets more interesting. Nothing really happens. Kagome tlaks to Inuyasha for the first time and she gets a new job. But what will she do on the job to keep her occupied? I know you have an idea. And cookies if it's right. Well, check your answers in the next installment of Dot Org. The real story starts in chappy 3. Whenever I get that up. With school and work going on... sigh... THX -TYK-


	3. Hacking

Disclaimer: I do not own Inu Yasha or any of his rights. I am not gaining anything off of this. I'm just writing this as a devoted fan. I also do not own anything pertaining to any search robots online including Smarterchild.

Summary: Is it possible to befriend a robot? Is it possible to depend on a robot? It is possible to fall in love with an online robot? Kagome did. Inu.Kag PG-13 R&R!

Tsuyoku: Chapter 3 is finally up! cheers

Dot Org

Chapter 3

_(review)_

_'With schools these days and how the world depends on the internet... It is a really good resource to go to.' Kagome thought. Just then, the helper returned with a few papers and told Kagome that she was free for the rest of the day, but had to be back there tomorrow. Another worker just up and quit on them, so for the next week or two, Kagome would have to fill in their hours till her schedule could be fixed to her liking._

_'Whatever.' Kagome thought. 'At least it's a job and I won't be bored. Not with all the books and the internet at my fingertips...' Kagome took the papers and walked out of the building to find something occupying for the rest of the afternoon._

_(end review)_

Kagome had gone back to see how everything was at the shrine. Everything was fine, so she listened to the rumbling in her stomach and went to get something to eat.

'Ah, nothing is better than homemade vegetable soup.', Kagome thought. 'Well, except for store made vegetable soup.' She reveled in the taste of the soup from the diner about a block from her apartment. It was called 'Miki's', and as she had met the older woman that ran the store, Kagome found it to be a familiar place to visit and eat at. By the time Kagome looked up from the old library book that she had retrieved from her bag, it was well past dusk. 'I guess I'd better get home.' Kagome thought. Paying the check, she walked a little ways down and then caught a bus for the rest of the trek, which she would walk under any normal circumstances. She walked up the few flights of stairs to get to her apartment, but something was a bit ominous. She had an odd feeling, as if someone were watching her. A few times, Kagome turned her back to see if anyone were there, but no other sounds, or people, occupied the stairway. The key was almost to the keyhole, when her fist pushed on the doorknob and then the door creaked open a bit. Her spine shrieked. Kagome walked in a few feet. Her heart skipped a beat for a second, but then noticing that nothing seemed to be touch, she let her insides rest. But, before they could settle back to their original and correct places, her organs jumped again. Everything looked normal and nothing was out of place.

Except her computer.

There was nothing there but the monitor. It was cracked a bit and lying sideways on her desktop. Everything else was gone. No keyboard, no mouse, no tower. Was someone playing a sick joke; what was going one. She felt like crying, but she couldn't. Something stopped her. There was no way she'd stay here tonight. If only she had someone close by; a friend, a boyfriend, but there was only her mother's house to go to. Kagome went into her bedroom to pack, but like her computer, the room was ransacked. Nothing else in the house was touched. "Time to go." She quickly threw some things into her bag and then headed to her house, miles uptown.

A bit disgruntled because of the looks people gave her on the bus, Kagome really didn't appreciate being looked at like she was being thrown out of her boyfriend's apartment at 1 AM. But, safely and surely, she had arrived at her home and was now currently tucked into her old bed after a tedious session of questions.

But she couldn't sleep, and she didn't know why... But, never the less, Kagome got up and then went over to her desk where her old computer sat. She logged on and then went straight to the instant messenger service. It was so old from her teenager days that she had to update the version only to have to log on again.

Buyobabe: Inuyasha!

Inuyasha: Hi Kagome! Nice to talk to you again.

Buyobabe: I can't sleep.

Inuyasha: Well, maybe I can't sleep too.

Buyobabe: My computer got wrecked and I can't use it anymore.

Inuyasha: I'm sorry.

It was a long into the night and early into morning before Kagome said goodbye to Inuyasha. She just couldn't get over the fact that she now had someone to talk to. And even though they weren't human, it still seemed very real. Instead of all these programmed responses, Kagome felt like she was actually getting feedback from another person.

It wasn't until a few days into her stay at her house that Kagome got rid of her apartment and then moved back home full time. Things at the hospital were getting hard on her mom, and with her grandpa getting sick all of the sudden, Kagome felt like she was needed.

"You don't have to do this Kagome. You've always valued your freedom, we don't mean to impose." Her grandpa said in between coughs.

"There's no worry, Grandpa. You know I missed you guys, and I'm closer to the library than I was at my apartment. It will be a safer commute." Truth was, Kagome didn't want to leave home. The few days that she stayed at home showed her exactly what she was missing in her family's life. Her brother was getting older and would be starting high school soon. And there were too many things that just reminded her of her childhood days, memories in which she wanted to grasp again.

Work had been going well. She'd sit at the desk everyday. Every now and then, a person would come to check out some books, but she faced the fact that people were just more interested in movies and TV now. Most people thought and knew that you could much easily get things faster from the television than you could from hours of reading. But that wasn't it. There were just so many things that a book could give you that something you watched couldn't. That was another reason that a library was in her interest as a job. In a book, you could imagine what a character was like and really use your own world to set the story in. It was all about your imagination, but people were lazy, she supposed.

Pretending to be heavily working at her computer, she found herself typing messages and responses to things that Inuyasha would say. Occasionally, some people in the library would be a bit startled at a small outburst of laughter from her or some noise that she made due to things Inuyasha said... err... typed.

Inuyasha: Two people walk into a bar...

Inuyasha: a third person say, 'Ouch, that must've hurt.'

BuyoBabe: lol

Inuyasha: Whatcha laughing at?

BuyoBabe: Nothing. You're funny.

Inuyasha: Why thank you. I know I am funny.

BuyoBabe: Do you like being a robot?

Inuyasha: Yes, I do indeed.

BuyoBabe: Would you become human if you could?

Inuyasha: I'm not sure...

BuyoBabe: Why not?

Inuyasha: Trust me. There are reasons why I should not tell you.

BuyoBabe: What reasons?

Inuyasha: You'll find out sooner or later.

Kagome didn't know what to say. In a very human sense, Inuyasha was very foreboding and mysterious, which is not something you'd ever expect from a robot. Someone slammed a few books onto her desk and she jumped, quickly closing out her message box. "May I help you?" she said, looking up. A young kid, who was not looking very happy to be in the library, nor to be living at all, thrust a library card into her face and wordlessly began to check her books out.

Kagome was sure that it was something for school that was required to have book sources. Most of the books were over Japanese culture, oddly advanced for a girl that age. It wasn't but a few minutes later that another kid came from another line up to Kagome's empty desk.

"You're new." he said. His bright eyes looked her up and down. "You're very pretty." Kagome blushed.

"Well, you're very handsome yourself. What's your name?" Kagome smiled and took the library card that was handed to her.

"My name is Hiro." He took a step back and bowed traditionally introducing himself.

'What a wonderful kid.' Kagome couldn't help but think. "Hiro is my favorite name, you know!" She watched his eyes light up. "Well, I'm Kagome." She bowed as far as she could while sitting in her small seat.

"It's wonderful to meet you, Miss Kagome." She continued checking out his books. Eyeing them, she noticed that most of them were about ancient Egyptian culture.

"Are you doing a report or something, Hiro-Kun?" Kagome really couldn't imagine him reading so many books that thin.

"No, Miss Kagome. I just like studying their ancient culture. It fas... fascinates me." Hiro managed to pronounce the word with a small lisp, which served to make him even cuter.

"That's very bright of you." Hiro bowed at the compliment and took his books off the desk.

"Well, mom's waiting. I'll see you here later. I love to come here, Miss Kagome-San!" He waved goodbye until he finally reached the door. Kagome thought about him a bit longer. He was so cute. His hair was as black as hers, but somehow, his eyes resembled a light green. 'His father must be a gaijin 1.'

For the next moments, she wondered what her children would look like. 'I've always wanted to marry a foreigner or someone very exotic! But, just to have someone would be nice, foreign or no.'

BuyoBabe: What do you mean I will find out sooner or later?

Inuyasha: You know what I mean.

Great, he was back to being a robot again. There were some times when she couldn't tell the difference between his conversations and that of two humans interacting. 'I guess it's just good programming. He was made by man, right? Therefore, he must have those characteristics. That's the point I guess.'

Before she knew it, five o'clock arrived and she was free to leave, not that she ran out of there like most people do with their job. Kagome stacked the returned books into the cart, which she would be restocking the next morning, and waltzed out the door.

But on the way home, Kagome felt the same feeling that she had the night she returned and found her apartment ransacked. Someone was following her, she felt it. Noticing very few cars on the street, and even less people walking or on bicycles, she sped up her pace a bit and continued on, hoping to reach home before anything bad happened.

But as she reached home, the feeling was still there. Maybe you could call her psychic, maybe she was just paranoid, but just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not really after you.2 And it seemed that she was right.

"Kagome!" She just walked in the door, and her brother was already screaming for her for something.

"Yes, Sota?" she called, walking towards her old room. She longed to take off her work clothes and get into something a little less sweaty after the walk home.

"Kagome, please come here!"

What is it, Sota?" She walked into his room and found him sitting there at his computer.

"Kagome, I didn't mean to, it just happened. I was only kidding around…," He said, sounding just a bit panicky.

"What did you do, Sota?" She walked into his room and over to the computer.

"Well, I was just playing around with the computer and Inuyasha… and I don't know what happened, but I think I just hacked into a government network computer." He sat there and twisted his fingers a bit still looking at the computer.

Kagome, whom was never very good at computers or their language still knew that this was a bad situation to be in. Most people that managed to hack into a government computer got caught, and that was because they were too stupid to begin with.

"Sota, what did you do?" She knew that he was good with computers, but this…

"Well, I was playing around. I had heard from some kids that there was this guy that graduated and he had hacked into the school computers to change his grades. He didn't get caught either. This guy was able to graduate and get by. So I thought that maybe I could do something even bigger and hack into the city computers or something. I managed to do it, but the computers won't let me out. I think they are tracing me. I don't know what to do!" He looked like he was on the verge of crying. Kagome, bad at math and science anyways, looked at the computer and a tab of some sort open with numbers and letters and plenty of coding. It was very confusing.

"Oh, Sota. I don't know what to do. What is on that screen anyway? What do all the numbers and letters mean?"

"Well, they are a code of some sort, and when you sit there and look at them, eventually you can decode them into some a text that we can understand. It's really weird, I'm not even sure of it."

Which meant that Kagome wouldn't understand.

"Well, turn your computer off or something. We've got to get out of this program, especially if they are tracking us." She hit the tower's button and held it down, half expecting it to blow up or something like that.

The screen went blank. "Damn. I would've liked to decode that page too. Kinda wish I printed it out."

"Sota! You just told me that you hacked into a government site and now you're sad because you couldn't read it! Oi, you really are nuts. Just be hopeful that we don't have any people from the government coming to the house if they really did trace you! You know that mom wouldn't be very happy, and you know about her health already! Don't tell anyone about this, you hear me? Not even your friends at school, alright?"

He nodded. That was why he did the whole thing in the first place, was to impress his friends. 'But now,' Kagome thought, 'he could get into a lot of trouble.'

Kagome couldn't completely shake the feeling that Sota could get in trouble, not for the next few days. But she managed to unplug his computer still and could try to function normally, seeing as it wasn't an immediate threat until they showed up on their doorstep and into their lives. God, she was not supposed to have to deal with this stuff! She wasn't that old, and there wasn't an ounce of computer literacy inside her!

Her brother, whom was the source of most of her stress at the moment walked into the kitched past her in the living room and got something to eat. All the while, he seemed pretty merry, not having worried about the situation a few days ago since it happened. Didn't he understand the situation that he had put himself in! Gosh, boys were so stupid and hard to understand sometimes. She swore that she should've sworn off all men a long time ago, being that they can be the source of so manyproblems with their egotistical and competitive nature.

And it wasn't until a few days later, whence came a knock on her door, that she was forever cursing men.


	4. Personification

Disclaimer: I do not own Inu Yasha or any of his rights. I am not gaining anything off of this. I'm just writing this as a devoted fan. I also do not own anything pertaining to any search robots online including Smarterchild.

Summary: Is it possible to befriend a robot? Is it possible to depend on a robot? It is possible to fall in love with an online robot? Kagome did. Inu.Kag PG-13 R&R!

Tsuyoku: Chapter 4 is finally up!! cheers I know that I said I was typing it now and that I would have it up after this last chapter

Dot Org

Chapter 4

_(Review)_

_Her brother, who was the source of most of her stress at the moment walked into the kitched past her in the living room and got something to eat. All the while, he seemed pretty merry, not having worried about the situation a few days ago since it happened. Didn't he understand the situation that he had put himself in?! Gosh, boys were so stupid and hard to understand sometimes. She swore that she should've sworn off all men a long time ago, being that they can be the source of so manyproblems with their egotistical and competitive nature._

_And it wasn't until a few days later, whence came a knock on her door, that she was forever cursing men._

_(End Review)_

The day was average. It was a Sunday, so everything closed early, including the library. The weekend was winding down, and so was Kagome in a kitchen that seemed to be devoid of anyone but herself, which wasn't a problem as far as she was concerned. The grilled cheese sandwich in front of her was only half eaten and had long ago lost any appeal to her. Well, what was she to do now? Going out anywhere would be pointless, not to mention her lack of energy to spend was very low. The TV was out, Sota had called that long ago. And Inuyasha seemed to be offline all day. Her few hours at the library had been boring, to say the least. Kagome hadn't been typing away with Inuyasha, so restocking books took her time, and when those ran out, the hours past slowly by.

It was funny how her life had become dependant on an online robot. When did she loose her social life? But then again, Kagome had never really had one. Maybe years ago in highschool when she was dating Hojo; that ended when they graduated. It seemed he had found out how boring she really was and moved on to more wild pastures.

Why wasn't he on anyway? She thought online robots were supposed to be there, that was their purpose. To search, to help navigate the web, to help her through her day... Not fun. So not fun. She had no one to talk to.

And this grilled cheese sandwich was starting to smell funky.

Boy, she could throw up with how bored she was.

And then there came a knock on the door.

"Finally something interesting. I hope it's a salesman. They talk a lot." Kagome was desperate for attention. "Can I help you?" She opened the door, expecting a 'You've won the lottery' or a 'Can I interest you in this lovely vacuum today?'

But no. She got a man at the door, looking worn out, out of breath, and absolutely rugged. "I'm sorry, Sir, I don't have any spare change." Yes, they'd come to her door for that before. Kagome considered giving him the other half of her sandwich.

"No, that's not what I'm here about. I'm looking for a girl named Kagome. I believe that she lives at this address." Now he had her interest. Kagome gave him a good sweep. Hair: light, almost foreign. Body: nice, er... stout. Clothing: washed, clean. He really ddn't seem poor now that she looked at him. "Ma'am?" Yes, he'd seen her looking him over. He was used to it by now. There was nothing that drew peoples' attention more than a gaijin with long silver -- almost white -- hair.

"That depends. May I ask who wants to know?" Kagome was at a loss for who this could be. She didn't know any foreigners, and she hadn't entered any contests lately.

"I'm Inuyasha."

She almost fainted. Wait, scratch that, she did faint. But only for a second. Kagome was jerked to her senses when she felt the man looking at her, and suddenly she was lifted up, only to be carried into the kitchen and sat on a stool with a glass of water suddenly placed in front of her. How he knew where the glasses were was a mystery to her.

"Look, I know that you won't believe me unless I prove it to you, and kami only knows how I'm going to do that, but you have to trust me. I'm here about your brother."

"What do you want with Sota?" Kagome asked, almost choking on the piece of ice melting in her mouth. "He hasn't done anything."

"Oh, I think we both know what he did. And he used my robot to do it, which means that along with your brother, I'm in trouble too." He looked at her, and for the first time, Kagome was aware of his eyes. Now she knew he had to be a foreigner. His eyes were gold, like a diamond ring that you couldn't stop starring at. Beautiful.

"Look, it was an accident. He didn't really mean to do any harm, he was just seeing if it was possible." A thought entered her head. "What are you here for? You're not here to take him with you or anything, are you? Because I won't let you."

"I'm not on their side!" His voice filled the room. Noise was heard from the living room where her brother was, thankfully it stopped as they heard to television volume rise. "Look, the government has had me working for them for years. I hacked into the government computers myself once. And I haven't been able to get away from them since. But I got a call a few days ago, and my informant told me that someone had used _my_ robot to get into the same department computer that I had." He took a seat on the bar stool next to her.

"Then how did you know where he was, or that I was his sister? Wait, how do you know who I am?" Kagome stopped drinking her water, parched or not.

"Kagome, I have an online robot that is programmed to say certain responses, but did you ever get the feeling that you were actually talking to another human being? Well, sometimes you were. I do talk to people sometimes, and the best part is that they think they're talking to a robot, so I don't get involved." What he meant by 'involved' was lost on Kagome. "But when I traced the computer, I recognized the IP address as the one that you use sometimes. At first, I thought I was mistaken, but I'm never wrong. Not about computer science." Boy, he and Sota should meet. They were just like each other, each with their own cocky attitude.

"So I have been talking to you..." The sentence was meant only as a thought. But it made more sense than anything she'd heard in a long time. Of course, the robot had seemed so real to her sometimes. To think that all the times she talked to the robot, all the times that she depended on it for a good day at work, all the times that it had made her laugh... it was really a person on the other end. Kagome was pleased that this could be construed as a social life.

"Yes." He looked at her for a minute, studying her, finally knowing what she looked like. It had been so nice talking to her. She was different than all the people that thought he was a robot. Most of them played games, asked silly questions, used the search engine because they _knew _it was a robot. But Kagome, yes, Kagome had _known_ that he was a person somewhere inside -- she recognized that the robot was at least _made _by a person. The moment broke. There were more inportant things that he should be thinking about. "Look, I have to talk to your brother. We have to do something before he ends up like me."

"What do you mean... 'ends up like you'?" Kagome wondered if his life was really that bad.

"If he ends up a slave to the government. In history, there have been countless hackers that have been caught. One man was even forbidden to ever own or use an electronic device of any sort again. When hacking and worms first came out, goverments all over freaked out at the intensity and power of these viruses. People were accessing private data, which was in turn used for their own selfish reasons. I myself was one of those." Inuyasha sighed, his memories were like videos that played in his beautiful eyes. The powers above should be banned from making a sight that alluring. "I'll admit. I had a good lifestyle, and it was mostly because I stole that lifestyle. But now I've paid the price. The guys that got caught were either put in jail, had their lifestyles completely destroyed by the government, or... " Inuyasha paused as if he wasn't sure about telling Kagome the last part.

"Or what? Come on, you've come this far, at least finish." Kagome had an idea of what was coming, but she had to hear it to believe it.

"Or they were secretly murdered." Kagome gasped. "Yeah, but those were only a select few -- when the subway computers crashed a few years back, that was the work of a friend of mine. We'd gone to school together, we'd played in the underground LAN gatherings together. It was amazing, and the government couldn't do anything about it. They had no proof that it was he who did it, but everyone knew. So they had the yakuza put a hit out on him. I was there the night a bounty hunter took him out."

The government hadn't been kind to him or his friends. It was a controlling system, if you didn't conform, you were different, which meant you were dead. It was the way of controlling people. The activists' actions were stumped by fear of retribution.

"So, what... you think my brother's going to end up like this? You think he's going to be caught and have his life destroyed like yours? For goodness sake, he's barely a teenager. He's only a kid, they can't do that." Kagome's eyes brimmed with tears. She did not move back to the house just to have her brother taken away from her. To see him go to jail, or worse, because of something that he thought was harmless.

"I think that the government will come take him to question him. That's what they do. They see how dangerous you are to the system, and then your fate is decided out of that." Inuyasha could only remember his time with them. It was short, but less than sweet. They had told him that he was going to be living in hell for the rest of his life... if he didn't start working for them, that is. And now, as he looked back on it, Inuyasha couldn't help but wonder, as he usually did, what his life would be like if he hadn't chosen this life. What would life be like it he was to be living poor on the streets, wandering _free_.

"So they'll just come and take him? Can they do that?" Inuyasha gave her this 'they're the government' look, which set her mind straight. The government could do whatever they wanted in this modern day Japan, politics were bitches. "What am I going to do. How can I tell mom, grandpa, he's already sick."

"I'm here to take him."

"What?!" Kagome turned to Inuyasha, looked him straight in the eyes and ignored the urge to fall deep into the pleading nature of his eyes.

"Look, they're after me too. It was my robot, which I designed for them, that helped him hack into the department computers. Therefore, I'm faulty, and this time, for sure, they'll find something more... well... I've got to go." Inuyasha hopped off the bar stool and walked from the kitchen to the living room, instantly spoting the young boy sitting on the couch engrossed in an episode of some crazy show. "Come on, Sota. You're coming with me." Inuyasha then grabbed Sota's hand, which of course struggled to get out of his locking grip just as the boy attached to it struggled to maintain some sort of footing.

"Now look here, Inuyasha! I'm not--"

"Inuyasha? What the hell?" Sota screamed, having temporary stopped his fighting. "You're real? Sis, do you know anything about this?" But Kagome hadn't really payed attention to what Sota was saying; she only saw Inuyasha, someone that she thought she knew, but Kagome still had so many things to learn about him.

Where had she gone from her small apartment and top job? Her life used to be great, jealousy inspiring, full of fun, but then it took a turn in a direction that Kagome didn't recognize: no man's land, forbidden trails. Suddenly, Kagome wasn't so desperate for attention anymore.

"Inuyasha, please. You can't take him." She grabbed Sota's other hand. "I can't let you." Her lower lip was quivering, an action that did not go unnoticed by her robot-man. It pained him to see it, but there were more important things going on than her, so many other important things.

"Kagome, you have to understand. If I don't take him with me into hiding, then they will take him somewhere much more..." He stopped just like he had in the kitchen.

"More what?"

"More frightening. More terrifying. Appalling, dreadful, pick any of them that you want Kagome! I just know that you wouldn't understand what our government can do, what they are capable of. What they do to people everyday just because they stepped out of line just once!" Inuyasha was yelling, barey seeing the effect that it had on Kagome. She looked down, her white shirt and jeans becoming blurry with the unshed tears that she'd been collecting for the past few minutes. What do you do when you get teary eyed? You look down, blink the tears away, and hope that whoever's looking at you doesn't notice.

Inuyasha was out the door, she could hear his footsteps. And wordlessly, Sota followed. He didn't know exactly what was going on, but Inuyasha's words sounded... dreadful. And he wanted to go with him, to meet Inuyasha. It wasn't everyday that you got to meet an online robot personified!

"Inuyasha! You're not taking him... without me," Kagome didn't care, tears fell -- stressed and worried -- while she screamed at Inuyasha that she was going with him whether he liked it or not. And all Inuyasha could do was wait there, back turned, while she wrote a note to their mother -- lying saying some vacation came up -- until she walked out the door wordlessly beside him.

#$&&$

About and hour later, we find the uncanny trio walking down the street, having taken a few buses and back roads to get where they were.

Kagome had already used most of her energy complaining about his lack of vehicular transportation and that he should tell them where he was leading them.

"Well, you didn't have to come along. If you're going to complain, then you can just go back home, I'm sure the suits will be very anxious to talk to you when they show up at your doorstep," Inuyasha retorted.

"Oh no! I didn't think about how mom and grandpa would react when they find some men from the government looking for us." Kagome hung her head, hands going up to her cheeks, red with embarassment.

"Me. They're looking for me." Sota spoke up for the first time since they had left the shrine. "I-I... I don't know what t-to do." His shoulders shook, head down, obviously crying. "It's my fault, I shouldn't have be-been so... so eager to impress my friends."

"Shhh." Inuyasha quieted the boy. "Look, that's how it usually starts. You want to impress your friends, or you just get bored one day, or you get curious. It happens to all of us." Sota grabbed his hand; he was only a kid inside, and Kagome, fallen behind the two, saw that Inuyasha was going to take care of Sota, he knew what to do. Inuyasha lent his head down, whispering in Sota's ear.

"_Trust me_." Sota could only nod.

Inuyasha led his two companions to a back street in a suburban neighborhood, nocking on the door to a garage twice with his bruised knuckles. It opened and the welcoming sight of a few small people sitting around on the garage couch watching TV filled Sota's and Kagome's heads.

"Um, Inuyasha, I thought secret hide outs were in back alleys of run down neighborhoods or something like that."

"Kagome, what do you think we are, a bunch of thugs? We're geeks, we sit around where we can and tap at the computer. You watch too many movies, Kagome." Inuyasha said, as he trotted into the building. "That's Miroku, you don't need to know the other two."

"Hey, everyone needs to know me. I could run ths whole country if I wanted to, so you _want _to know me. I can hook you up when I'm big." When only a scoff came from Inuyasha, the guy picked himself up off the couch and walked over to where Kagome and Sota stood by the door, feeling a bit out of place. "You the kid that got into the system?" Sota nodded, still not able to talk without getting upset. "Good job, man. And you're so young too. Ah, they're getting younger every year." He shook his head of bright red hair.

"What are you talking about, he's only a year younger than you are, Shippo."

"Shut up, Inuyasha. No one asked you." The guy turned his head towards Kagome. She took in his sight, about to her shoulders, looking much older than Inuyasha described him to be. Bright red hair flared from beneath a blue hat that went well with just an orange shirt and jeans. "And just who might you be, miss?"

"My name's Kagome." Shippo looked her up and down.

"Not quite what I imagined from what you said, Inuyasha. It's nice to finally meet you Kagome." Kagome shook his hand, then looked towards Inuyasha for an explaination, but only found his back. Little did she know that his cheeks were just as red as his t-shirt.

"On to the people that you _do_ need to know, I'm Miroku." Before Kagome ould blink again the other guy was standing in front of her and she was being looked over by his man. He wore jeans like the rest of them, but with a nicer button up shirt, even though it was a darker shade of purple. Not the manliest color of all, but oh well. "Now, you are very attractive, Miss Kagome. Why are you hanging out with such a character as our Inuyasha here?"

"Now wait a minute! Kagome's not some piece of tail. Stay away from her, she's only here because of her brother. He's the one we need to focus on." Inuyasha was doing this for Kagome, only neither of the two really acknowledged that fact yet. "Kanna, come here."

"Yes, Sir." The young girl was wearing white, like she was, but her hair, her eyes, everything matched in this white void.

"Kagome, this is Kanna. Years of working for the government and having their computer technology at our disposal has paid off. Kanna is a working android computer. She's a piece of art." Miroku piped in. "Inuyasha has been helping us by transfering information from the department to our computers where we have buid a master computer in half the size, with human characteristics."

"But about the same personality as the computers they have." Inuyasha bopped Shippo on the head. "Ow! Oi, Inuyasha, what did you do that for.

"You little punk. Be nice to Kanna, she's more of a hacker than you will ever be." Inuyasha stood there with arms crossed over his chest.

"Maybe that's because she's made out of machines; she's a freaking computer herself!"

"Hey, how about we stop arguing and get some work done. I'd really like to get everything settled with the government so that Sota and I can go home, " Kagome interjected. She was still a bit reluctant to sit down on the couch or any of the furniature for that matter. Everything seemed so foreign and weird.

"I'm afraid it's not that simple, Miss Kagome." Miroku rubbed the back of his head, a sheepish look on his face. "We're actually not sure how long they'll look for Sota. Maybe for life."

"Life?" "Life!"

This didn't sit too well with the siblings.

End DotOrg Ch. 4

$#((&!#$

Tsuyoku: Well, hope you enjoyed this chapter. I really got rolling when I was writing this, and it's un-beta'd -- except for my proofreading that is. If you have any questions... ask, they might be answered in the next chapter if you do. I hope it wasn't confusing for you. Stay tuned for chapter five, which I really hope is coming soon. R&R Please!


	5. Androids and Wine Cellars

Disclaimer: I do not own Inu Yasha or any of his rights. I am not gaining anything off of this. I'm just writing this as a devoted fan. I also do not own anything pertaining to any search robots online including Smarterchild.

Summary: Is it possible to befriend a robot? Is it possible to depend on a robot? It is possible to fall in love with an online robot? Kagome did. Inu.Kag PG-13 R&R!

Tsuyoku: So, Chapter 5 is up now, which is good. I'm seeing eight or nine, maybe ten, chapters in this story, so to make the plot fit, I might start making long chapter, but boy do they keep writers up at night trying to write these!!!

Dot Org

Chapter 5

_(Review)_

_"Kagome, this is Kanna. Years of working for the government and having their computer technology at our disposal has paid off. Kanna is a working android computer. She's a piece of art." Miroku piped in. "Inuyasha has been helping us by transferring information from the department to our computers where we have built a master computer in half the size, with human characteristics."_

_"But about the same personality as the computers they have." Inuyasha bopped Shippo on the head. "Ow! Oi, Inuyasha, what did you do that for._

_"You little punk. Be nice to Kanna, she's more of a hacker than you will ever be." Inuyasha stood there with arms crossed over his chest._

_"Maybe that's because she's made out of machines; she's a freaking computer herself!"_

_"Hey, how about we stop arguing and get some work done. I'd really like to get everything settled with the government so that Sota and I can go home, " Kagome interjected. She was still a bit reluctant to sit down on the couch or any of the furniture for that matter. Everything seemed so foreign and weird._

_"I'm afraid it's not that simple, Miss Kagome." Miroku rubbed the back of his head, a sheepish look on his face. "We're actually not sure how long they'll look for Sota. Maybe for life."_

_"Life?" "Life!"_

_This didn't sit too well with the siblings._

_(End Review)_

"Wait, what do you mean life?" Kagome crossed the room over to where Inuyasha stood. "And what the hell is _she _doing here anyways?" She pointed to Kanna, who was standing up across the room.

"What do you mean?" Inuyasha asked, confused.

"I mean, this _slut _cost me my job!" At their confused looks, Kagome continued. "She was sleeping with my boss, _and _she continued to steal my work."

"Miroku, you haven't been programming Kanna for sexual favors again have you?" Inuyasha interjected for the moment. Kagome grimaced at the thought of what Miroku would do with an android, she could almost wretch at the pictures that put in her mind...

"Of course not. That was one time, and I was extremely drunk."

"You still did it."

"Shut up, Shippo!"

"Okay, what are you doing here, Kanna."

"Look, she hasn't been out of this garage but a few times, and those were only tests, she couldn't have possibly been... doing things with your boss," Inuyasha stated. He kept looking from Kagome to Kanna, who didn't really show any signs of knowing what Kagome was talking about.

"Look, I know this girl. It may have taken me a minute because she looks a little different, but this is her."

"Well -- I guess you could say that she is and she isn't at the same time."

Kagome looked towards Miroku. "What do you mean?"

"Okay, fine. I'll tell you. We didn't make Kanna. The government has developed the information to make these advanced technologic androids, which they've started to mass produce."

"What for?" It was the first time that Sota had spoken up since they'd arrived there.

"To tell you the truth, we're not really sure about that part. We don't know why they've been making so many, but I helped steal this one while I was at an office one day; we took her apart, reprogrammed her, and fixed her up to facilitate our needs." Kagome gave him the same odd look that Miroku got. "Which have not been sexual. She'd been more of a help in hacking than anything else."

"Oh. So... how does that explain the 'other droid' that I graciously met? I mean, what would the government be thinking putting an android in a fashion agency?" Kagome finally got the nerve to sit on the old couch. Inuyasha pulled some drinks from the small fridge back in the corner, bringing them over to the living area.

Suddenly the door that Kagome assumed led to the actual house opened revealing an older woman looking through the door. " 'Miro'," Kagome assumed that she was referring to Miroku. "Who are all your friends?"

"Just friends from some of my classes."

"Oh, well, do you guys need anything?"

"No, mom, we've got everything we need. You know your shows are on, right?" Miroku looked at his watch.

"Oh, dear! You're right. Well, you guys have fun and play nice." The door closed softly.

"Classes? Miroku, you graduated college two years ago!" Inuyasha said. How the hell...?

"Yeah, but it keeps her off my back about getting a job. I'm not going to waste my skills on some desk job behind a cubicle..." Miroku stretched out on the couch, even though Kagome sat on one end.

"I'll still never understand how someone so sweet and kind could ever have such a kid like you, Miroku," Inuyasha sipped at his drink while shaking his head.

"Alright," Kagome moved Miroku's feet off her lap as soon as he laid them there. "Let's get back on track. Now what about the Kanna that I know, and what are we going to do about this situation with the government?"

"Well, I'm not really sure. The best bet, I think, would be to look up the information and see what kind they have on Sota." He crossed the room, asking Kanna and Kagome to follow him. Sota and Shippo had begun talking and Miroku wandered over with a board game, knowing that it would take a while to fully get access, even with Kanna's help.

Inuyasha rolled up Kanna's sleeve and fumbled with a loose wire. Kagome really had no idea what he was doing or how he was hooking it up to the computer; remember, she was pretty computer illiterate from the beginning. It still irked her how much Kanna looked like the other one at her work -- er -- ex-job. There were a few differences, however, including eye color. Maybe skin tone, but that was something Kagome didn't really pay attention to when she first started hating Kanna. Kagome just decided that she was going to put the past behind her and forget about Kanna, even though it was hard knowing that she was really a government issued android and wondering why she was working in a fashion and design business in the first place.

"Alright, Inuyasha's voice jerked her head back to the screen. Inuyasha had opened a few programs, none of which Kagome recognized. She pulled another rolling chair over to where he sat and on the way over took in his sight, now knowing what he looked like past all those programmed phrases and computer screens. "Kanna's hooked up and it may take a few minutes to actually get into the system. Though it used to take forever before we got her. She makes it a lot easier now because she is a government product."

"What is it that you're doing now?"

"Well, I'm using a program to randomly choose an IP Address to mask my own. An IP Address can allow people to trace any of my activity to this computer. But these randomly chosen addresses come from a system compiled of addresses across the world," Inuyasha looked at Kagome sitting next to him. It was nice knowing her in person, and she was amusing pretending to fully understand exactly what he was talking about. "Alright, now that we have a mask," a simple looking program popped up confirming that. It had a black background, grey letters, and simply stated that an address had been found listing some numbers afterwards. "I can begin to dial in Kanna's system to the actual computer at one of the headquarters."

"You mean, she's going to call that computer?" Kagome looked at him like he was crazy. "They can do that?"

"In a way, yes. It's complicated, so I'll just leave it in the simplest form." They smiled at each other, but were distracted by a few things popping up al over the screen. Do not ask Kagome to describe these to you, it was hard to comprehend her highschool geometry, let alone an actual computer system. "Hey, guys! We've accessed the first part. Come on over here." The other three crossed over and stood behind Inuyasha and Kagome.

"So, are you going to information first?" Miroku leaned on the back of Inuyasha's chair, watching the screen over his shoulder.

"Yeah." From the corner of his eye, Kagome tilted her head as if in confusion. Inuyasha stifled a laugh. He turned to her. "First thing, we find out what information they have on Sota and possibly even you."

"Me?"

"Yeah, you're related. And it may have something to do with the android that was working with you, Kagome." Well, she guessed that they'd find out, though it was a little un-nerving to sit here and wait to see what kind of dirt a corrupted government had on your personal life. Sota just stood in the back, not caring what files they had on him, but really caring about what they had on Kagome.

'Did they figure it out before? But even then, why would they want Kagome...?' Sota figured he'd keep his thoughts to himself for the time being. Shippo beside him was getting a little antsy, and this didn't even concern _him_, the kid was rather quiet though.

"Here we go." Kagome had no idea how Inuyasha could navigate his way through this place with the encryptions and code that he was using... Was it some kind of programming... or maybe a way to hep Kanna communicate. Now that she thought about it, Kanna was a lot different from the one she'd met before. The first one wouldn't shut up, or keep her legs closed; maybe the reprogramming that Miroku and Inuyasha did help in that category.

"Damn!" Kagome's mind jerked back to the information at hand. "Look at all this information! Name, birth date, social security, residence, which is normal... but here. Schools and grade in all classes, friends, parents, relatives, you're daily schedule, and regularly visited websites. Wow. Seems they've been collecting information on you all night. How could they have all this information so fast?" Inuyasha looked more at the screen. "Here are pictures of you as well. Look at this one, it's very recent."

"Wait, that was taken two weeks ago, how could they have gotten that picture, you hadn't even gotten into the system by then!" Kagome looked towards Sota. He just shrugged his shoulders. "See if they have anything on me, I'm really wondering if that other android was there because of me or what..."

Inuyasha searched under her name. "Here... What the hell!"

"How the heck," Kagome mumbled, shocked by the amount of information on her.

"There's tons of pictures, mainly from where you used to work obviously. And way more information than Sota, which is shocking. Look here, it has a lot of information about designs and the types of fabrics... where did this come from...?" Miroku squinted to make out a pattern that was obviously scanned in.

"Oh my gosh! Those are my proposals! Kanna was the one that was stealing them, I thought that she was giving them to the board as hers, but she was giving them to the... government? What the heck would they use those for?"

"Did you ever consider the possibility that Kanna got you fired for a reason?" Kagome turned towards Inuyasha. She took a long look at him, and she would've let herself get lost in his eyes if it wasn't for her concentration on the situation at hand and how it caused a slow, churning of her stomach. How had it come to this? Her brother was the one that hacked into some government computer... so why did it seem the suits were more interested in her than he? None of this made sense to Kagome, she would've cried had it not been for her company and the three pairs of eyes on her. She figured Kanna would've looked quizzically at her if it weren't for her apparent lack of personality.

"I don't know. That would be possible, but I have no idea why she would do that. You guys know now how I am with computers, I can only do the basic things. If they are watching me, then there's something else about it."

ACCESS DENIED

"What the hell is this?" Inuyasha began doing something genius with the keyboard, but the word weren't disappearing, and Kagome was starting to get scared. "It won't let us go any further." Lines of code began to fill that simple black box that Kagome had admired earlier. Even Inuyasha couldn't figure out what exactly it was saying. "What the hell? It's not letting us out either!"

"What's it saying?" Shippo asked, trying to see over Miroku who had blocked the view. Inuyasha yelled in frustration that he wasn't sure.

"They know someone's in their computer." Miroku pointed out.

"Well, can they trace this computer?" Kagome looked towards Miroku then back at Inuyasha.

"Since I used a scrambler, I think not. But..." Inuyasha trailed off. This didn't sit well with Kagome's nerves, we were talking about their lives at stake if they were caught.

"But..." She tried to get him to continue.

"Their technology increases everyday, so it's just a matter of time before the engineers on their payroll figure out a way around our petty hacker tricks." Inuyasha grabbed the bridge of his nose as if to fight off an oncoming headache. The screen went blank for a moment before appearing again and printing codes in the black program. Numbers and other codes begin to scroll, confusing everyone who looked at it, well almost everybody.

"What's going on?" Now MIroku and everyone behind him were looking at the screen so intensely, all trying to find some way to unscramble this messy code.

"They're trying to reverse the scrambler on the IP Address and get past all the randomizing," Sota said, surprising everyone.

"How can you tell?" Inuyasha was surprised. He'd known that the kid was smart, hell, he talked to the kid online sometimes about programming (even though Sota had no idea it was another human), but Inuyasha had had no idea that the kid could read code like this!

"This code, if you figure out the key, it's just communications." Everyone looked at Sota, asking him to explain. "Okay, I figure that they've developed a program to go through all of the IP Addresses in the are in order until it gets a match. And if it doesn't get a match there, then it'll continue to work it's way out of the area until it does. Which means that eventually, the program will trace the computer that we're using, and they'll be able to point a location." Damn. That made a lot of sense. "At least, that's what I'm thinking, I could be wrong though"

"No, no. That makes a lot of sense. They've never tried this before thought."

"Well, you said yourself, Inuyasha, that everyday the Department was coming up with new technology. But instead of sitting here talking, you should disconnect Kanna from the system. If they find this address, the computer might fry her drive trying to stop the connection."

What was this kid? Was he born from a computer? He hadn't said more that two words at a time on average since he arrived in Miroku's garage, and now he was explaining things that even Inuyasha didn't know about.

"That means that we'd better get out of here. Go ahead and withdraw Kanna so we can get packed up." Miroku crossed the room again and began stuffing various things into boxes. To Kagome, it looked like they'd done this before.

"So," Inuyasha began, looking at Miroku from his spot at the chair. "What are we going to do with the systems and hardware?"

"We're going to put them where we did last time, of course." He gave Inuyasha this 'duh' look.

"Where are you going to put that stuff? And what do you mean last time?!?" Dammit, why did Kagome feel like the only one who didn't understand what was going on. She'd heard just as much as Sota, and here he was spouting out lines and orders.

"Under the fridge, there's a little storage space. It was used long ago as a wine cellar, but now, well, it holds more... useful forms of entertainment." Inuyasha chuckled a bit at that comment, and Kagome wondered what he meant by that. "As for the 'last time', don't worry about that, it was just a misunderstanding." Inuyasha got up before she could ask what kind of misunderstanding he was talking about. "What about your mom, Miroku?" Kagome heard him talking from beside Miroku across the room, both were packing and moving boxes over to the fridge. Kagome wondered what technical things were down there, and why were they hiding them.

"She'll be fine. She knows nothing, and as you can see, she is a bit on the oblivious side." Kanna, Kagome noticed, was putting her cord back _into_ her arm, rolling down the sleeve in the process. Kanna looked at Kagome with these blank eyes, which Kagome wondered how she could've even accused this girl of being the slut from her office. She had not personality. Her eyes were blank.

Kagome guessed that Inuyasha and Miroku did well reformatting her hard drive. She looked to her right seeing Miroku handing things to Inuyasha, who was down in the 'wine cellar'. Her curiosity could _not _ get the best of her. If there was one thing that this whole ordeal with the government taught her, it was that being curious, and snooping around, could get you into a whole hell full of trouble!

"So, Inuyasha," Kagome crossed to where she could see him, but not what was in the cellar. It was best not to know, for now, what was down there. "Where are we going to go? I mean, you have another base like this, right?"

"Nope. Matter of fact, they've never found us here. We had no use for another base." Inuyasha grabbed the last box from Miroku. They seemed to be _too _good at packing this and putting it away so easily.

"Well, where should we head now? We can take my car."

"You have a car, Miroku? Good." Kagome remembered the walk over here. It was long, and traveling by foot wasn't the most comfortable form of transportation.

"I know where we'll go. Let's move this fridge before they figure out that code. What's your mom going to say about them showing up here?"

Miroku shrugged, "Who knows. But trust me, she's lived on her own since dad died; mom can take care of herself." Kagome felt sad when Miroku had announced that his father had passed away.

"I'm sorry to hear about your dad. My dad left my mom a long time ago, we've been on our own ever since." Kagome empathized with him.

"Well, we've done fine on our own. As I'm sure your family has as well." Miroku gave her a wink.

"Miroku's dad was one of the people I told you about that the government took care of," Inuyasha was getting out of the cellar.

"You mean, you're dad worked against them too?"

"No," Miroku answered sadly. "He worked _for_ the government."

Kagome was, needless to say, speechless. So that's why Miroku had started working against the departments; they had his dad killed. But why would they do that if he worked for them? Miroku has crossed the room, so she decided that the subject was best put to rest for now. The rest of the time, Kagome helped the two guys put a few necessities in the trunk of Miroku's car until Kanna, Kagome, Inuyasha, Sota, and Miroku were stuffed into his small car.

"But I want to go with you!" Shippo said from outside the car.

"Look, we don't have enough room to take you; plus, what would your stepmother say when she found you missing? Stay here, and keep surveillance on my house. When they come, call my cell -- we're going to be tracking any and all process." Without anymore thought, Miroku pulled out of the drive way and into the street. Kagome felt bad that they had to leave Shippo behind, but he was just a kid; not necessary, and he didn't need to stray away from his home. "Where to Inuyasha?"

Next to him, Inuyasha looked towards Miroku only to say, "The place I'd never go to unless it was an emergency."

"His house?" Miroku looked at him like he was crazy. Now what was going on? Was Kagome the only one _again _ who didn't know what they were talking about? "No, Inuyasha, that's trouble right there."

"Where," okay, Sota didn't know either. Kagome listened for their answer.

"My brother's house. I'm not exactly welcome, but this an emergency, and I need something."

"You say that like he'll invite us in for some tea." Miroku wasn't very excited about having to go there. Kagome faintly wondered what was so wrong with Inuyasha's brother if Inuyasha seemed pretty normal.

"Miroku," Inuyasha started. "What other choice do we have? Unless you can pull that floppy out of you pants, that's where we're going. Do it.

All Miroku could do was turn the car down the street to his right and not welcome the thoughts of what would happen to them if they were found at Sesshomaru's house.

$&($)$$)

End Chapter Five.

Tsuyoku- I've already got the outline for chapter six done, so I'm going to type it up when I get another chapter of Mission Accepted out, which I've already got half typed. Reviews make chapters appear faster!


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